University of Sydney Reviews

Former Employee – worked at University of Sydney as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – great labs, environment and experience tech

Cons – limited funds, jobs, resources and high living expenses

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at University of Sydney full-time for more than a year

Pros – The pay is generally good for a given level. It's an attractive campus.

Cons – Little opportunity for advancement.

There are numerous barriers to applying for grants such as having to get permission to apply which boils down to needing to have funding already to cover the gap between the allowed pay of a grant and the university salary. If they were clever they would let any and everyone apply and set up funds to bridge that gap. (They get money for administering the grants so it wouldn't be terribly difficult to find the money for those few successful candidates)

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of ITC and move away from windows as a defacto OS. Provide opportunities for early career scientists that allow interdisciplinary individuals a chance of advancement. The current system is very stogy and traditional by international standards.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at University of Sydney full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good people, nice campus. The students there are still going to include some seriously bright kids as Australians like to stay in the same city. Thus, even in areas where Sydney is marginal you will still get some smart students through.

Cons – Surprisingly hierarchical behavior from aging baby boomer faculty who were teleported to the top of the heap. Pretty eye-rolling to have faculty that managed to get promoted to Ass. Pro. or higher with hardly any publications (or in some cases no PhD for the bulk of their career) to be cracking the whip now for junior faculty.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at University of Sydney as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – This is coming from a data analyst's perspective:
* Everyone, minus the odd ego or two in 'upper management' is very friendly.
* If they can, people will go out of their way to help you.
* Close proximity to a very wide variety of food outlets/restaurants.

Cons – * You WILL be confused by the frequent workarounds necessary to pull pretty basic data, especially if you are from a corporate background.
* Systems are very faculty-centric (reflecting historical practice) and are hence duplicated. Good luck trying to stitch data together from different faculties!
* IT service is pretty bad, considering the size of the Uni. It's not their fault though, their budget is tiny.

Advice to Senior Management – Give the leadership of the plethora of internal reviews to people who are actually passionate about making real change to the University - certain deputy vice-chancellors, for example...

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at University of Sydney as a contractor for more than 7 years

Pros – well paid and good boss

Cons – not all bosses were good

Advice to Senior Management – less politics and more reward for quality

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at University of Sydney full-time for more than a year

Pros – Compensation and benefits provided are relatively good and you can enjoy a good work/life balance.

Cons – Because of a couple of factors, you might find that the opportunities to advance your career are somewhat limited and a little bit frustrated.

Advice to Senior Management – Better support for fixed-term employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at University of Sydney as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Amazing, intelligent people to work with

Cons – Somewhat institutionualised, leading to beuocracy.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on international student engagement.

Current Employee – been working at University of Sydney

Pros – good review structure for early starters

Cons – nothing specific but should be good

Advice to Senior Management – good work

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at University of Sydney part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great culture, sense of identity and a great university that has over 170 years of history.

Cons – but taken aback by the job cuts which happened last year till early this year (2012). Sydney uni is trying to cut costs by getting rid of many academic and general staff members, regardless of their work history.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a look at the committment and sacrifice many have put in over the years as well. An academic's research potential is not mere publication. Take a look at his teaching quality for example.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at University of Sydney full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Interesting research project and friendly people

Cons – Lack of social activities and career advice

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company